Vacation Souvenirs

The girls and I took a mini vacation last week, spending a few days with my parents at their beach condo in Florida. One of Brigid's favorite things to do at the beach is to hunt for seashells, and even though I have to keep telling her she needs to at least limit herself to whole seashells, and not just various seashell pieces, we always come home with buckets of shells at the end of every trip. And I'm kind of running out of places to put some of them...

(And here's where I have to admit...I like seashell hunting, too. I am part of the problem.)

I have several large glass containers filled with sand and shells in various rooms of my house. I have a bowl full of sand dollar pieces in my dining room. I have driftwood scattered here and there. I look like I'm trying to pretend I live at the beach when I live in the middle of the mountains. (Ok, that part might be true...) But WE KEEP BRINGING MORE HOME.

Since I don't really have anywhere else to put more shells, I told Brigid that last week's haul was all hers, to do with what she wanted. The results:

A necklace and bracelet that she 'designed' herself from a couple of the shells that had holes in them already...

Two picture frames that I bought for $1/each so she could paint and glue whatever seashells she wanted to on them (the heart one she says she made for Steve and I, 'Because I love you guys, mommy!', and the other one will have a picture of her from this trip in it, once I actually get around to getting a picture of her from this trip out of my phone and into print.)...

And then, because I expected her to use a lot more shells on the picture frames (Seriously, who knew she'd be so artistic about placing certain shells in specific spots on the frames? I expected 99% of the wood to be covered in shells, not paint.), we had to find a place to dump the leftovers...

That one was a recycled idea we've used before, obviously. I told you the kid likes her seashells.

The best part? Other than actually spending time at the beach, that is? For a few dollars, we killed an afternoon with craft projects and created a couple of reminders of a fun vacation along the way. Everybody wins!

(Except for when I have to dust this stuff. That just sucks.)

Playroom Updates

As of two weeks ago, I officially became a work-from-home mom. Even though I haven't fully transitioned into the new part-time role I'll be performing, because I promised my boss I'd stay as full-time as possible until September to fully support my replacement, I've still managed to find small bits of time to handle a few of the household projects that have been bothering me for the past few months, while Steve and I have both tried to juggle full-time jobs and keeping the house from falling down around our ears. Since I don't have to be up at 4:30AM anymore to get into the office, it's amazing what I'm actually able to get done in the evenings after the girls go to bed...

Project 1: Organizing the playroom.

I wish I had taken before pictures of this process, so you could see just what I was dealing with in the playroom, but my first order of business was finding new storage units.

Enter the neighborhood Facebook page!

I got two of these cabinets for $50/each, but I didn't like the oak color, and I wanted something a little brighter for the room. So I made the incredibly stupid decision to paint them. I HATE PAINTING THINGS. Remind me of this next time I get some new dumb idea like this...

I really should have done one more coat of white paint on those cabinets, but after one (way too thin, it turns out) coat of primer, two coats of white paint, and three coats of pink paint on the backs of the shelves, I was done. DONE.

After the painting was done, I emptied and reorganized and refilled every bin in that room, threw out broken toys and smashed crayons and empty sticker sheets, and resorted approximately one and a half million puzzle pieces into their correct boxes. 

And now my children are never allowed to play in that room, again.

The end.

Reading Rainbow

Apparently, I can write more words than any one person should about favorite movies and television shows (if that one person is not a movie or television critic, anyway), but then the words dry up, and I forget to post again.

NOT THIS WEEK!! This week, I'm linking up with Ginger's Bring Back the Words prompt around what my favorite toys were as a child, which is actually a surprisingly short list, given how many toys were in my house at any given moment when I was growing up. In fact, there's really only one item on that list...

Books.

Now, before I could read, I had a few toys that I liked. When I was three, I wanted a barn and a farm and a horse for Christmas. This was the first Christmas my mom and I shared with my soon-to-be-step-dad, and when I unwrapped the Fisher Price farm set he'd put under the tree for me, I think I knew right then and there that he was a keeper.

(I was right, by the way. He's still a keeper, 30 years later. I am an excellent judge of character, obviously.)

Then there was the American Girl doll I got when I was...10? 11, maybe? I'd wanted a Samantha doll more than ANYTHING ELSE IN THIS WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD, and there she was on Christmas morning. The pictures from that day are a great testament to my joy that morning, but they're also a testament to pre-teen braces, frizzy hair, and remarkably pasty complexion, so...yeah. I think those pictures are in a box at my parents' house somewhere, maybe (hopefully?) never to see the light of day, again.

(Along with the video of my Jr. Miss competition (IT WAS A SCHOLARSHIP COMPETITION!) when I was a senior in high school. I think I've safely hidden that away somewhere, because it was awful. Picture a group of high school girls dancing a horrific dance to Jailhouse Rock by Elvis, in white sweatsuits with black electrical tape lines on them, made to look like jailhouse uniforms. Then imagine the ridiculous answers given to terrible pageant questions, and that is maybe the most cringe-worthy tape of my life. So. Bad.)

But books. Well, books were my life when I was growing up. I would read anything and everything I could get my hands on. I'd read every book in the young adult section at the library that earned me extra points in the Summer Reading Club. I'd read all of the children's books my little sister brought home to read, to her if that was an option, but even to myself, if it wasn't. I'd read really age-inappropriate books, now that I think about it, that I found on my grandpa's bookshelf. I'd read cereal boxes at the kitchen table, just to have something to do.

My mom loves to tell the story about how I got lost driving home from my piano teacher's house, even though she lived five minutes and one turn away from me, because I'd turned the wrong way. Turns out, when you start reading the minute you get into the car, you're not going to know how to get yourself around the small town you've lived in all of your freaking life.

Go figure.

My mom actually had to ground me from reading from time to time, because I wouldn't get anything else done. My room would be a mess, my homework would be incomplete, my chores would be unfinished. Seriously. My mother. Would ground me. From reading.

Who does that?

I hope beyond anything else that I am able to pass this love of reading on to my girls, because I don't know what I'll do if they don't enjoy it like I do. Brigid gets two books read to her every night before bed, and I'm trying to get back into the habit of it with Caitlin, as well. I am SO DAMN EXCITED for the day when I think Brigid is finally old enough to read the Harry Potter books with me, and I have a box full of old Nancy Drew books in the basement with her name on it. Lord of the Rings, Madeleine L'Engle, Narnia, The Babysitters Club, whatever new series they have out for kids now. I want them to want to read it all.

Just as soon as they learn how to read.

Reliving Notre Dame

I try to make it a point to always wear green on the Friday before a Notre Dame game, because I am just that much of an ND homer. I may or may not have bought this skirt from the J Crew outlet with just such an event in mind...

Of course, this week, I had to move my pre-gameday ritual up a few days, because Steve and I took Thursday and Friday off to actually go to Notre Dame for the game, but still...I think I got my point across.

We went back to South Bend for a game in 2011, but we'd left Brigid with my mom for the day (my parents live about two hours away from SB), and we'd just driven up and back that same day. We didn't leave the tailgate lot, except to go to the stadium and walk to the bookstore on the edge of campus when the game was over, so it had been awhile since I'd been on the actual campus. It's changed so much, but then...it hasn't.

When I was in high school, I applied to Notre Dame to give my parents bragging rights. I thought I could get in to the university, and I wanted them to be able to tell their friends that I had, in fact, done so, because, I don't know. I was a snotty high schooler who wanted to show off, maybe? But I had absolutely no intention of going there for four years, because I wanted to move to the city. Sure, that city happened to be Indianapolis, which is maybe no great shakes to most people, but it was a big deal to me, since my closest neighbor when I was in high school was the cow that lived in the pasture across the road from us. I was going to Butler, and that was that.

But there was no point in letting my official college visits go to waste, even if I'd already made my decision, so when my best guy friend and the guy I happened to have a crush on at the time asked if I wanted to take a day to go visit Notre Dame with them, of course I went. Spend the day in school or take a four hour roadtrip with a cute guy? Please.

I was 18. I think we all know where my priorities lie.

It was cold and rainy when we got there, so we decided to skip the official tour. After all, none of us were planning to go there, anyway. My friend was moving to Boston. My crush wanted to go to Duke. Why did we need to learn about the campus?

Then we stepped inside the Basilica to look around.

Look, I am Catholic. I was baptized Catholic. I attended Catholic school through seventh grade. I taught kindergarten Sunday school when I was in high school. I've spent my life at church. But I struggle with it sometimes, and I am not as active as I should be. And I definitely wasn't as full of faith as a teenager as some people I knew at the time. And yet, the minute I walked into that church, I knew.

This was where I would spend the next four years of my life, and I have never once regretted that decision.

Six years later, I would get married in that church. Nine years after that, I would take the daughters I share with the man I met just across the quad from that church to Mass there. And I would feel the very same feelings of coming home each and every time I walked into that building.

Notre Dame is my happy place, and I think it always will be. I've been telling Steve for years that I think I'd be happy working on a college campus for the rest of my life, but I think I've been wrong. I don't think I'd want to work on a college campus, I think I'd want to work on this college campus...

...if working meant sitting outside, under a tree, with a book, in the spring and fall, of course. I may end up being the first person in history to retire to South Bend, Indiana, I think.

TV Time

Well, last week I had so much fun participating in Ginger's favorite movie link-up that you'd better believe I wanted to participate in this week's favorite television show version.

10) Alias - I've always said that I want to be Sydney Bristow when I grow up, because seriously...she kicks so much ass. Steve and I started watching the show randomly one summer in the middle of its run, because I think maybe he found a deal for season 1 on DVD? And he's never been one to pass up a good deal? Even if that deal is on a show that neither of us had shown any inclination to watch prior to that moment? Whatever. That DVD was my first taste at binge watching an entire season of one show, and well, I was hooked after that. I have, however, never quite forgiven Jennifer Garner for breaking up with Michael Vartan in the middle of the show, to go marry Ben Affleck, even if the Garner-Affleck kids are some of the cutest kids on the planet. I'M STILL NOT OVER IT, OK? This has not stopped me, however, from adding it to my Amazon Prime watchlist, because I intend to watch it from beginning to end, all over again, sometime in the near future.

9) Charmed - I don't know what it is about this show, but I love it. STOP JUDGING ME! *ahem* The show runs on TNT now, and they were just starting with the pilot episode during my first week of maternity leave after having Brigid, so through the magic of the DVR, I was able to record and watch the entire thing from start to finish. The supernatural overload may have had something to do with the voices I could have sworn I was hearing in the white noise machine when getting up with Brigid during all of those sleepless nights, come to think of it...

8) Bones - I just love the relationships between all of the characters. The science stuff is interesting, I find the murder stuff a little gruesome from time to time, but the characters keep me invested in the show, no matter what.

7) Parks & Rec - It's not weird that I want to go knock off Ann Perkins and then take her place as Leslie's best friend, right?

6) New Girl - I know she's kind of a polarizing figure, but I LOVE Zooey Deschanel, and I want most of her wardrobe from the show.

5) Downton Abbey - I'm giving Downton this spot on a trial basis. It has A LOT to do before it can make up for what it did to me last season.

4) Friends - I will watch these reruns whenever they are on. Who DOESN'T watch these reruns whenever they are on?

3) Seinfeld - I've made Steve watch the reruns throughout our relationship, because I got tired of quoting the show to him, only to have him look at me like I was nuts. Not that he doesn't have a point, when I can relate most of life to Seinfeld, but still. I needed his support. Our family favorite is probably the Festivus episode, because we have a lot of fun interpreting Caitlin's baby shrieks as 'I've got a lot of problems with you people!' Well, I have a lot of fun doing that. Steve might just be humoring me at this point.

2) West Wing - This is such a great show. It is so well written, with such great characters, that I am still sad they didn't just leave it on the air. I absolutely would have watched Jimmy Smits as president for another 4 years, if it meant they weren't taking Josh Lyman away from me. This is my current Amazon Prime binge-viewing obsession.

1) Gilmore Girls - I want to live in Stars Hollow. Not in some small town somewhere in New England. Just Stars Hollow. I'd also like to be able to think as fast as Lorelai Gilmore talks, if that's not too much to ask.


Honorable Mentions:
The Office - Jim and Pam's wedding might have been one of my favorite episodes of any television series, ever.
The Bachelor/ette - Who doesn't like a nice hot mess to watch every now and then?
So You Think You Can Dance - Those kids have some serious talent.
Community - It can be up and down, quality-wise, but the up can also be really, REALLY up.
Dawson's Creek - Mostly because I have nostalgic memories of gathering in my dorm's common room to watch it with a whole group of girls in college. It's on my watchlist for future start-to-finish viewing at some point, too.
VEEP - Hilarious. The show is FREAKING HILARIOUS.

I'm sure I'm missing something, but this is what I have at the moment. What about you?

Let's all go to the movies...

When I was younger, writing was my creative outlet. It was the one area where I had any sort of artistic talent, and I genuinely enjoyed getting lost in the words rolling around in my head, as I tried to put what I wanted to say on paper as quickly as it wanted to come out.

Then, I went off to college, where my writing-intensive Government 2nd major fell away as I became focused on the spreadsheets and formulas and calculations of my Finance 1st major. I never quite lost my love of writing, but I felt like, somewhere along the way, I'd lost the ability to write how I wanted to write. I started my family blog in 2010 as a way to bring some of that joy back into my life, while also documenting my daughter's life for my out-of-state family, who never got to see her as much as they'd like. Eventually, that became my family yearbook, printed out every year by my husband for us to remember the events of the previous year, followed religiously by my mom and grandmother for pictures of my girls, used by my mother-in-law to share our lives with her friends. And I love that they all have the opportunity to do what they want with that space, truly. But I also feel that because that is what that space is used for, it needs to be primarily a picture book, with the words providing a secondary focus for people if they can bring themselves to look away from the smiling baby that has to be included in every. single. post. to prevent my mother from asking me when I'm going to start posting more pictures of the girls for her to see.

So, you know, the words. I'm still trying to bring them back.

A couple of weeks ago, Ginger started this Bring Back the Words weekly prompt that I've wanted to participate in every time she's mentioned it, but, for various reasons, I just haven't. Well, maybe not various reasons. Maybe just one. 

It's time, ok? I just never seem to have time. I always see the weekly prompt, think to myself 'THIS IS THE WEEK I'M GOING TO PARTICIPATE!!!', and then before I know it, the week is over, the next week's prompts are up, and, I don't know. It just hasn't happened, yet. BUT!!!!

This is the week! Because this week? Well, Ginger is talking about movies. And, my friends? I have some THOUGHTS on movies.

So, let's jump in, shall we? Here are my 10 favorite movies of all time:

10) Can't Hardly Wait - This movie came out the year I graduated from high school. So of course we watched it at least once a week in college, because 'OHMYGOD, that's like, so US!' Sorry I'm not sorry.

9) Match Point - I don't know what it is about this movie. I watched it originally because Matthew Goode is on my 'list' (you know what I'm talking about), and, well, that's reason enough for me to watch something, right there. But, I really loved it. And I found myself actually rooting for the villain to win in the end, although that may have had more to do with my strong dislike of Scarlett Johansson as an actress than the movie itself, but still...I'm going to give credit to the movie. It is good. 

8) Rudy - I went to Notre Dame, so I'm a little biased, here, but this movie makes me feel ALL of the feelings. I can remember my roommates and I feeling beat down one week towards the end of a semester, and we spent a Saturday watching this movie and sobbing like fools. Because Rudy! He beat the odds! He played football at Notre Dame! The fight song! Woo! By the end of the movie, we were so full of school pride, WE probably could have made that tackle against Georgia Tech, and getting through the semester didn't seem like such an ordeal anymore. Also, my husband (also an ND grad) starts tearing up at the music from THE OPENING CREDITS, so, it's kind of a big deal in our house. Side note, the first: I've heard the real Rudy speak at a pep rally. He's terrible. Also, I think he was kind of an ass when he was actually at Holy Cross/Notre Dame. But still! Rudy!

7) Elf - This movie makes me happy. I love everything about Christmas, and I love Will Ferrell, and I refer to my daughter as an angry elf all of the time when she gets pissed off. It was on Showtime the other night, and I watched it because I was sad. It helped...

6) Love, Actually - Happy, Christmas, everything I said above, etc, although you will have to replace Will Ferrell with Colin Firth and Hugh Grant. And I have no problem with that. They would be why this movie is ranked ahead of Elf, honestly.

5) Newsies - Fact: I have been in love with Christian Bale since I was 13 years old, when my high school music teacher had us watch Newsies in class one day. He remains my longest running relationship, to this day. For Brigid's first Christmas, I bought her Newsies on DVD. SHE NEEDED IT, OK?

4) Chasing Liberty - I like the idea of running off with a hot British guy in a foreign country. Or, I did, anyway, back in the day. Now the thought of sleeping outside all night on top of a building in Prague just makes my neck hurt. But still...I'll watch the movie anytime it's on.

3) Harry Potter (any and all of them) - I'm going to include this as one movie, because I will absolutely watch all eight of them anytime they are on t.v. In fact, ABC Family just did a Harry Potter marathon last weekend, and even though I came in late, I still managed to catch three of them while I was painting my staircase (don't ask...), and honestly? I'm disappointed I missed the first few they showed. I would have had it on all day, if I'd known it was available. Side note, the second: We are going to Disney in November, with a stop at Universal, first. I have informed my husband that there's a chance I will never actually make it to Disney, because I'm partially convinced that I'm meant to live my life as a character actor at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I think this would make me happy. This doesn't make me weird, right?

2) Center Stage - The first time my roommate made me watch this movie in college, she was acting all swoony over Cooper Nielson, and I thought she was crazy, because no. Not attractive in the least bit. She just smiled at me and promised to check in with me again at the end of the movie. Yeah...she was absolutely justified in being swoony. There is just something about a boy who can dance, you know? This is one of two things that stay on my iPad at all times because I never get tired of watching it, and the ballet scene at the end is surprisingly effective background noise for a workout.

1) Pride & Prejudice (the long one) - Ok, so I know this isn't technically a movie, since it was a BBC miniseries, but I don't care. It is six hours of Colin Firth being Mr. Darcy, and Jennifer Ehle as the most perfectly awesome Elizabeth Bennet, and even though I have seen it a million times already, I've never hesitated to watch it again when I have free time. It is the one thing that I will never, ever, EVER take off of my iPad OR my iPhone to free up space, and if that isn't true love, I don't know what is.

Honorable Mention: A Charlie Brown Christmas (not really a movie, I guess, but I have so many happy feelings when I watch this show, dating back to how much I loved Christmas as a child, that I couldn't leave it off of the list.), Hoosiers (I'm from Indiana. It's a requirement if I ever want to be allowed back in the state.), Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (I like the Bryan Adams song, and if that's wrong, then I don't want to be right. Also, I have a weird attraction to Christian Slater in that movie. I know...I don't get it, either.).

And that is my list. Tell me...what have I missed? Where am I wrong? What are your favorite movies?

Ch-ch-ch-changes...

I don't know if there is anyone out there still listening to me or not, because when you only post once every three months, and you just haven't been able to visit/comment on other blogs recently like you used to do, and Google decides to ditch its feed reader, giving everyone else the perfect opportunity to weed dead blogs out of whatever new feed reader they're moving to, you don't expect many people to stick around, waiting anxiously for your return. But I have things to say, and even if no one is listening, and I have things to figure out for myself that I can only figure out if I put it all down on paper, first.

(My head, it is a noisy place these days. I can't keep track of anything in there, anymore.)

I want to get back to posting outfit pictures, because I've been on a stress-shopping binge, lately, and my newest no-shopping stint will begin on August 1st, which means I need to get back to appreciating what I already have, instead of wanting everything that I don't.

I want to talk about make-up, because, well, see the stress-shopping binge, above. I love make-up, I always have, and ever since Style Lush went quiet, I've lost the outlet where I could talk about all of my favorite products. And favorite products? Hoo, buddy, do I have them.

I want to talk about my feelings as a working mother who no longer wants to be a working mother, the constant beating my emotional well-being has taken as I've struggled to lose the baby weight after Caitlin's arrival in my life, the struggles I've faced in trying to teach Brigid right from wrong. And my fear that I am not doing right by her in this process.

I want to talk about all of the stress and anxiety that has slowly taken over my life this past year, in ways that I've never truly appreciated until I actually sat down and thought about how hard the simple things in life have become.

And I want to talk about how happy I am that my life is where it is, in so many ways, despite all of that other stuff that keeps getting in the way.

I have things to say. It's time I got back to saying them.

Inside My Comfort Zone

A few weeks ago, I finally got around to reading A Discovery of Witches (which had been on my Amazon wishlist forever) and Shadow of Night (because, hi, sequel...TELL ME WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!!!), and while I really loved reading them (well, I loved Discovery, anyway, but I kind of felt like Shadow didn't advance the plot enough for me to love it quite as much), I also learned something sad about myself...

I just don't have the time or mental capacity right now to take on anything new or thought provoking, or even at all interesting, when it comes to books. Or movies and television shows, for that matter. Between work and the girls, and my stupidly annoying need to get some sleep each night, I can't devote energy to these things like I have in the past. I am the type of person who has to know what is going to happen next, and I've spent MANY nights reading into all hours of the night to find out. It doesn't even necessarily have to be a great book to drag me in.

I mean, I read the whole Twilight series in one weekend. I just couldn't help myself, I had to know how it ended.

But, as I was stretching Caitlin's middle-of-the-night feedings to longer than necessary lengths, just to get in one more chapter of the Harkness books, then waking up beyond exhausted the next morning, I came to the conclusion that that's not really an option for me anymore. And NOTHING has made me feel older than realizing that I'm too old to stay up all night reading. So even though the list of books that I want to read keeps growing by the day, I bought the Harry Potter series for my Kindle to reread when I find myself with a few minutes to spare.

And the same thing has happened when it comes to TV shows. Did you know every season of Friday Night Lights is available for free on Amazon Prime streaming? Because it is, and I've heard nothing but great things about the series. And yet, I'm rewatching old West Wing episodes. Because I CAN'T GET SUCKED IN TO A NEW SERIES!

And then there are movies. I have $30 sitting on my iTunes account. I could rent some new movies, just like that. They still make good movies, right? But...no. I think I'll rewatch Center Stage or the Pride and Prejudice miniseries (both of which I bought off of iTunes the very moment I had an iTunes account) for the bajillionth, instead. I mean, I don't have to commit nearly as much brain power to the task when I have the entire thing burned into my memory.

(BRAIN POWER! FOR A MOVIE! I don't have enough brain power for a movie. I just can't even...)

This is how it starts, isn't it? I haven't been young and hip for awhile, now, but I also wasn't old and crotchety and set in my ways, yet. I'm on that path now, though, aren't I? It's all over.

Now get off my lawn, and take your loud rock n' roll music with you.

Friday Round-Up (Sort Of)

As mentioned only a million times before in various locations, my parents were visiting this week, so all of the hard work I'd done last week to finally get caught up on my Google Reader list?

Gone in a sea of late nights spent watching HGTV with my mom and dad.

Totally worth it.

But, I did have one or two things to round up before the weekend...

1) Today is the last day to enter my giveaway from The Party Works, so you should totally go do that if you haven't.

2) eShakti is not only having an up to 40% off sale right now, but they want to give you an additional 10% off of ANY order (including those sale items!), with the code LA28PZE. The offer is good through July 31st (on anything except overstock items) and can be used as many times as you'd like within that period.

(Disclaimer: The company is offering me a site credit worth 10% of all orders placed using this code. I'd offer the code to you with or without this offer, because I really do love this company, but, you know...transparency and whatnot.)

3) This post from Elizabeth sums up my feelings on fashion and raising a girl in an image obsessed world MUCH better than I could ever hope to do myself. So...you should definitely read it, I think. It's just that good.

Have a lovely weekend!

Game Time

My grandfather raised me to love Indiana basketball. Watching games together, or watching games separately, then coming together to discuss them at a later date...that was OUR thing. My mom didn't like basketball. My sisters didn't like basketball. My aunt was a Duke fan.

My grandpa and I always had our Hoosiers.

When my family was gathered around him in the hospital several years ago, while we were waiting for the doctors to take him off of life support, while I was trying to figure out what my final words should be to the man I loved so much, my mom said, 'tell him about IU winning last night'.

So I did.

I still have a box of tapes in my basement, video evidence of every win (wins only, of course, because he taped over the losses) IU had over a good twenty year period, that my grandmother gave me after Papa's funeral. I still love Bobby Knight with all of my heart, because that's who Papa loved. I went to Notre Dame, but I've never stopped cheering for IU in basketball, even though they play each other every year.

In fact, I actively tried to root against them when I went to those games when I was in college, since I didn't want to get boo'd out of the student section, but I just couldn't do it.

It drives Steve nuts.

I can't help it...

So, if you need me tonight, I will be sitting in the nosebleed section of the Georgia Dome, waaaaaay past my bedtime at 9:45PM, wearing red in the sea of blue-clad Kentucky fans that I can GUARANTEE you will be descending upon my city tonight, trying to cheer my Hoosiers past those #1 seeded (and very much hated) UK Wildcats.




My Papa would be so proud.

Quick Hits

I don't know where my inspiration/motivation/general desire to do anything internet related has gone recently, but I am a little out of touch on email/reader feed/general blog kind of activities this week. I'm either blaming vacation brain, or Lego Harry Potter for the iPad, which I have already played through once, to open the free play on all levels, and am now replaying with a hardcore intensity designed to officially unlock everything I missed the first time around.

I am AWESOME to be friends with, I tell you. Or married to, for that matter, as Steve will tell you.

Anyway, a few little things running through my mind right now:

1) I am flying up to Indiana for my sister's bachelorette party this weekend, which gives me a glorious couple of hours all to myself, albeit in an airport/on a plane. And then I've got a longer flight next weekend, too, where I'll have all sorts of time to kill, so...HELP! I'm looking for any good movie or book or general pass-the-time-activity recommendations you might have. I can't guarantee that I will do anything more than just fall asleep during my free time, but still...it never hurts to have a back-up plan.

2) I have decided to give up swearing for Lent this year. The last few years, I've given up shopping...but I'm already doing that for the full year, so it's no additional sacrifice this time around. My other typical tradition involves giving up sugar. But...vacation. And since my language has hit all time lows recently, to the point that I could probably make a sailor blush in the course of a normal conversation, this will be a tough goal to work for. Which is kind of the point of things, after all.

But I've slipped up already. Several times, in fact. So I'm trying to come up with a good 'punishment' (for lack of a better word) system for when these slips occur. Any ideas?

(See? Lack of creativity. My head is just not where it should be these days, I swear.)

3) ...and that's all there is, folks. Books, movies, and swearing. And Lego Harry Potter.

I think this means I really need a nap?

Valentine's Day Recap

My poor, dear husband was told on Monday that he needed to be in Charlotte for a meeting on Wednesday morning. And since flights from Atlanta to Charlotte are in the $500+ range two days out (shocking to absolutely no one, I'm sure...), it was more cost effective for him to just make the drive, instead. But, because the meeting was at 10AM, and he didn't want to get up and drive at 4AM, he headed out on Tuesday night.

Yes, for those of you counting at home, my husband had to leave me and Brigid on Valentine's Day for a 'business trip'.

I, of course, threw a fit (or, you know, shrugged my shoulders, which is about as worked up as I can get about my favorite made-up holiday) and asked if he was pulling a Patrick-Dempsey-from-Valentine's-Day-the-movie on me (no, I didn't, and he wouldn't have picked up on the reference if I had, since no self-respecting person would ever admit to seeing that movie...except for me, apparently).

But, then he gave me chocolate and beauty products and left me alone with Monday's episode of Gossip Girl on the DVR, and all was right with the world.

THE END.

My ABCs

So far, I've seen this done by Jess and Sarah, and, well...I wanted to play along! I kind of love these things. It's a sickness, I think.

A. Age: 31. (Although this will be changing in 10 days, but we won't talk about that, right now...)

B. Bed size: King.

C. Chore that you hate: Folding laundry. I have no problem doing laundry, but folding it and putting it away? No thanks.

D. Dogs: Two. Riley the vizsla, who is pretty, but dumb, and Peyton, the terrier/beagle mix, who isn't fat, she's just big boned...

E. Essential start to your day: COFFEE. And also, more coffee.

F. Favorite color: Green.

G. Gold or silver: Silver.

H. Height: 5' 2". And a half.

I. Instruments that you play: The piano. Sort of. Well, I used to be able to, anyway.

J. Job title: Financial Services Manager.

K. Kids: The lovely Miss Brigid.

L. Live: The A-T-L! Woo! (You may come kick me, now.)

M. Mother's name: Kathleen. Or Kathy, as her cousins call her. Hee...

N. Nicknames: T, maybe?  I don't know that I really have one, I guess.

O. Overnight hospital stays: Just that one time I was in there, givin' birth and all.

P. Pet peeves: Oh, everything annoys me waaaaay more than it should. It's something I should probably work on, I guess. My current general annoyances are people who don't accelerate quickly enough after the light turns green (Steve and I, NASCAR loving people that we are, refer to it as someone spinning their tires on the restart) (I never said I wasn't an idiot...) and my dear husband leaving his beverage can on the kitchen counter every morning after he pours himself a drink for the commute, even though he WALKS RIGHT PAST THE RECYCLING BIN ON HIS WAY OUT OF THE DOOR!!!

Q. Quote from a movie: "Hey look, kids, there's Big Ben, and there's Parliament!"

R: Right or left handed: Right.

S: Siblings: Two awesome sisters.
.
T: Travel favorite: Somewhere with a beach. A really, really pretty beach.

U. Underwear: Mostly VS, I think.

V. Vegetable(s) you hate: Onions. Do onions count as a vegetable?

W. What makes you run late: Everything. I am NEVER on time. It drives Steve nuts.

X. X-rays you've had: Just the general dental types, I think.

Y. Yummy food that you make: I...um...well, I guess I can make a good smoothie?

Z. Zoo animal: Panda bears. Always the panda bears.

Your turn! (And leave me a link to your post if you do this!)